Speaker
Description
Nuclear reaction data are an essential component of Monte Carlo simulation of proton transport. These reactions have a significant influence on the simulated dose distributions (of interest, e.g., in proton therapy), mostly through the release of high-energy gamma rays and nuclear fragments, which contribute to the global particle fluence within the irradiated material. Conversely, Monte Carlo simulations are also used for describing the particle fluence in the quantification of proton-beam experiments. In this communication we briefly present the recently developed PENH code and analyze the dependence of various simulation results on the specific nuclear data adopted.
The characteristic feature of PENH is the use of a class II tracking scheme for the electromagnetic interactions of protons, which differs from the usual condensed-history methods used in most general-purpose codes. Class II allows using numerical differential cross sections for elastic collisions of protons, and an elaborate model for inelastic collisions (causing electronic excitations of the material). The proton-transport code operates in combination with PENELOPE and allows the simulation of coupled proton-gamma-electron transport in complex material structures based on the most reliable interaction models available, limited only by the required generality of the code. PENH simulates proton-induced nuclear reactions using information from ENDF-6 formatted files (such as the US evaluated ENDF-B or the calculated TENDL files). The structure of the combined code allows performing detailed (event by event) simulations of proton transport in thin material foils, as well as accurate simulations of experiments involving thick materials.
In order to reveal the dependence, or the insensitivity, of simulation results on the adopted nuclear data, we will present comparisons of simulation results and measured data for various experimental arrangements: angular distributions of proton beams transmitted through thin material foils, and distributions of dose from therapeutic proton beams in matter. We will demonstrate the capabilities of PENH/PENELOPE to validate the cross sections for isotope production in materials irradiated with proton beams that are inferred from the experiments.
References:
[1] Salvat, F. (2013), “A generic algorithm for Monte Carlo simulation of proton transport,” Nucl. Instrum. Meth. B 316, 144–159.
[2] Salvat, F. and J. M. Quesada (2020), “Nuclear effects in proton transport and dose calculations,” Nucl. Instrum. Meth. B 475, 49–62.
[3] Salvat, F. (2019), “PENELOPE-2018: A code System for Monte Carlo Simulation of Electron and Photon Transport” (OECD Nuclear Energy Agency, document NEA/MBDAV/R(2019)1, Boulogne-Billancourt, France), https://doi.org/10.1787/32da5043-en